Wizardly MisAdventures
by Naomi Hansen
Summary: Victoria Darktalon is a talented Ice wizard at the the legendary Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. Join her and her companions as they try to survive the many years at this crazy school. Set before Malistaire turns evil. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Victoria Darktalon, a young and talented Thaumaturgist, navigates her life while attending the legendary Ravenwood School of Magical Arts with her twin brother, Stephen--who is also a powerful Diviner at the school--and her younger brother, Nicolas, who seems to have a large amount of potential for Life magic, even though he isn't old enough to go to the school yet. But she, her brothers, and the many people in their lives tend to get into odd situations that leaves them happy, sad, angry, excited, or just plain confused. Can they all live through these ups and downs in life through all the years at this crazy school?

Well, for them, and for you readers, there's only one way to find out.

Author's Notes: Wow its been a while since I've posted ANYTHING!! YIKES!! (and now I remember that I kinda suck at making a cool summary) XD

Anyways, I am happy to be one of the first people to post a fic for the game. I'll admit that the game is suppose to be for _kids_. But thats exactly WHY I'm making this story; I _want_ to make a version more "appealing" to more mature audiences (I dont mean just adults when I say that).

I'll have two versions of this story: (1) The more "kid-friendly" one that'll go to the Wizard101 website, and (2) the--well, _less_ kid-friendly version, which you will see here now.

By the way, I also do this so I can get other people interested in the original game. So go ahead and read this, even if you dont even know what this game is!

Okay! Lets get this show on the road!

* * *

September 5, 2004

4:14 PM

Everyone was quiet. The only sounds that were heard in the Wizard City Library were the scratching of quills on parchment, book pages being turned, a few books whistling through the air, and the water falling from the ceiling to the ground near the main desk. There were some people looking at the books and scrolls on the shelves, but most were either taking notes from books on the tables or just reading.

This was where Victoria Darktalon—a twelve-year-old Ice wizard with white hair and bright green eyes—was absentmindedly flipping through the large pages of _The Spiral and the Words Within_. In her left hand, she was twirling a wand that she had bought at the Wizard City Wand Shop. It had a silver handle, but had a blue crystal attached to it. Every once in a while, the crystal emitted a faint blue light and a few white sparks would appear, but Victoria didn't seem to care about this. Instead, she just kept staring at the book with the same blasé-like look in her eyes.

For about two hours, Victoria had been in the library, studying for an upcoming test in Myth class. The people who had been with her had already left to pursue other tasks and she finished her studying less than half an hour after that. She had already finished the tasks that were assigned to her a few days ago by her teachers and nearly everyone else that she knew was still busy. She felt too tired from studying and didn't want to go outside in the hot weather to find someone to hang out with, so she stayed inside. But she soon discovered that she was not too excited about this plan either: she read all of the interesting-looking books a long time ago (she wasn't a fan of rereading books) and even if she wanted to talk to someone, nobody in the Library would want to since they were there to study for the final exams that were coming in October and November.

_Tap tap._

Victoria did not pause from the noise, but instead let out a soft sigh.

She had a twin brother, Stephen. He was known by many of the students and professors in Ravenwood to be soft spoken, if not completely silent. He didn't even seem to attemp to socialize with any of their peers either, even though it would be easy for him to make friends. But he had his odd quirks: his way of greeting his sister was to try to sneak up on her. Unfortunately for him, this usually failed due to her good sense of hearing.

"Stephen, if you're gonna sneak up on me, get some new shoes. You're still too loud," Victoria said in monotone.

She could hear a soft growl behind her. This made her crack a small smile.

"This is the third time you've called me 'Stephen!'"

Victoria jumped in surprise. The voice sounded nothing like her brother's. She quickly turned around. Sure enough, the person she saw now was not her brother. Instead, it was her friend, Tyler Duskglade. Like Victoria, he had white hair, but his eyes—which were now showing slight annoyance—were an amethyst purple. And unlike Victoria—who had a black wizard uniform with navy blue trims on her sleeves, hat, and shoes—his uniform was white with some purple trims.

"Oh," she replied, "Hey Tyler."

Her hand quickly stopped twirling the wand. She gently threw it up into the air. With a soft _poof_, it vanished. Tyler rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. The Ice girl was grinning in her head. She usually didn't act so childish, but Tyler was an exception for her.

"Show off," he whispered.

Victoria teasingly stuck her tongue out at him. Tyler looked at her from the corner of his eyes. His raised his eyebrows slightly.

"And immature."

This time Victoria's eyebrow twitched. She then gave him a cold stare with her bright emerald eyes. Tyler looked as though he was trying not to look away and shiver. He was a year older than her but they both knew that the 'look' was not good for anyone unfortunate to have it cast upon them. It didn't kill anyone, but it gave the impression that she wanted it to.

"H-hey, come on, calm down. We don't want to make a scene here, Ed."

Her cold stare was replaced by slight confusion.

"…Ed? Do I _look_ like a guy to you!?"

Tyler seemed unaware of her newfound annoyance. In fact, it seemed like he was trying to conceal a smirk.

"Well, since you seem to like calling me 'Stephen,' I thought that it would be—well, fitting to give you a new name as well. Besides, consider it a compliment," he said with an extremely cheesy smile on his face.

Victoria's face started to become red.

"You know that's always an accident!" she argued. She noticed that she spoke louder than she intended and covered her mouth slightly. Some people looked up from their books for a few seconds before they resumed reading. She took a quick breath before she continued.

"Besides, how the hell is that suppose to be a compliment?"

"Come on, you don't see it? Giving people nicknames is a thing friends do all the time! It's a tradition to do that."

Victoria gritted her teeth together.

"And _how_ did you come up with… Ed?" she asked hesitantly.

She knew that either way, the answer to a question like that would be an odd one. Especially if it was an answer from _Tyler Duskglade_.

"Think of it like this," he answered cheerfully. "The initials for your name are V and D. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to pronounced V.D. So I just made the V into E, since it's the vowel that sounds similar to it. That's how I came up with 'Ed.'"

"… Why do I even bother asking sometimes?" Victoria sighed, placing her cold hand on her forehead.

"Hey, look on the bright side: Now you can call me 'Stephen' as much as you want!"

She glared at him again.

"I told you that I always do that on accident."

By now, Victoria was rubbing her eyes in frustration.

"Sure, whatever you say, _Ed_," Tyler chuckled.

Victoria rolled her eyes and stroked her hair. But a thought came to her head. She smiled and softly chuckle.

"What?" Tyler asked, his smirk fading from his face.

"You're a year older than me," she said, her small chuckle turning into a laugh, "yet _you're_ the one acting so immature. Heh, talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

She had a hard time containing her laughter. The fact that she now saw Tyler's eyebrow twitching did not help matters.

"Why you little--!"

But Victoria did not pay attention to what her friend had to say. At that moment, she suddenly felt her table move underneath her right hand, which was still placed on it. Slightly startled, she quickly turned her head around to see that some of her pieces of parchment had moved a few millimeters from their original positions. Her face looked calm, but in her mind, she had a million thoughts running through it. Most people—probably even wizards—wouldn't see or feel any significant change, let alone get worried. But past experiences that ended or almost ended in disaster told her that she should be on guard.

"Did you notice that?" she asked Tyler, who was still ranting to her. She quickly looked around to see if she was wrong about nobody noticing the tremors.

"Um, no? Why..?" he asked.

Victoria didn't look at his face, but from the all too familiar tone in his voice, she could tell that he was in between being confused and annoyed by her interruption. In fact, from what she could guess, he probably thought she was crazy.

"Tyler, I'm serious. Did you—"

_Thud!_

Victoria's table jumped again and her papers and books shifted with it. This time, people seemed to notice it also, since not only did the rest of the tables make some kind of perceptible move, but some of the books on the shelves fell to the ground. One extremely thick volume even hit a short girl in the head. She could hear that people nearby either gasped or squealed in surprise. Then everything was still.

Victoria quickly stood up and looked at her friend, who seemed as shocked as everyone else.

"I really doubt that this is an earthquake," Tyler said to her.

She looked at him with an I-Think-We-Already-Know-That look on her face. She opened her mouth to say something.

"Run!"

"Get out of the way!"

"AH!!"

Everyone, including Tyler and Victoria, turned to the front windows of the building. What they saw were many student wizards and civilians running towards the direction of Unicorn Way. The civilians and some of the wizard were panicking. A few brave wizards were firing attack spells in the opposite direction of where everyone else was running. Victoria thought she even saw a Sunbird carrying a child on its back while swiftly flying in the direction of the throng of people.

Many students in the library were starting to get terrified. They started whispering to each other, trying to figure out what was going on.

_THUD!_

This time some of the students yelled in shock when they fell onto the ground when the tremor came. Everyone seemed to know that whatever or whoever was causing the chaos was starting to get closer to the Library.

"I can't take this anymore! I'm outta here!!"

_Poof!_

They looked to see that one of the wizards teleported out of the building.

"I agree with her. We should leave!"

"Everyone! GET OUT!!"

_Poof!_

_Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!_

Everyone else did the same until the only ones left were Victoria and Tyler. Victoria turned around to see that Tyler had a completely stunned look on his face.

"Tyler, we need to go," she softly said.

He didn't seem to notice his friend's plea.

"Tyler? Hello? You there?"

_THUD!!_

More books and scrolls fell off their shelves while some tables jumped and fell violently to their sides. Victoria quickly glanced outside to see the street outside deserted.

"You idiot! Come on!"

He still didn't budge. As she tugged on one of his sleeves to get his attention, her anxiety seemed to grow.

"Damn it Tyler, let's go!" she said while shaking his right arm.

But it was too late. Outside the tall windows of the library, Victoria saw that a giant figure with only one eye was peering into the Library. It wore a leather skirt and large brown sandals.

"Oh crap. A Cyclops," Victoria whispered.

The Cyclops picked up a humungous stone hammer. It slowly raised the hammer above it's giant head. Vicotoria knew that it was about to swing—and that they were in it's path. Then the Cyclops roared angrily.

Victoria gasped as Tyler immediately pulled her towards him. He then held his left hand above their heads, and an Ice symbol was being traced in the air.

"Ice Armor."

_WHAM!!!_

The stone hammer caused the walls in front of the duo to instantly crumble to the ground. Many of the bookcases were crushed by the rubble that fell on them, but it didn't seem to fall anywhere near the two wizards. When the hammer was about to him the two though, it crashed into an invisible barrier about their heads. But for some reason, the shield started to crack and soon it shattered from the blow. The remaining force of the hammer was strong enough to knock them down to the ground. Victoria was able to quickly get back up, but Tyler seemed to have the wind knocked out of him since it took him a second to recover.

The building was a mess. Most of what was in front of them was obscured by a cloud of dust, but Victoria could tell that nearly every section of the front of the Library was destroyed.

"Too bad Ice Armor is only big enough to protect one or two people," Victoria said, trying not to breathe in the dirt.

She could hear Tyler coughing behind her.

"Get out of here. Now," Tyler told her sternly between coughs.

Victoria turned around looked down on him, as though he said something insulting. Her emerald eyes seemed to shine with newfound anger and confusion.

"Are you freakin' _crazy!?_ Not when you're like this," she responded in an eerily quiet tone.

Victoria couldn't guess what Tyler was thinking since he kept coughing. Her expression softened when she held her hand out in front of him. When he stopped coughing, he grabbed it and was pulled up. When he let go, she held her right palm in the air. With another soft _poof_, the wand she had earlier instantly appeared in her hand.

"And besides, the _Cyclops_ is over there," she said slowly, as though she was talking to a child.

Tyler glowered slightly at her, but nodded.

"HEY! _No!_ Bad minion!"

They both turned around, surprised. They looked around the dust cloud to see where the voice came from. Victoria's eyes grew wide when she looked towards the direction of the front of the building.

"Oh, God! You gotta be kidding," she groaned.

At first, the cloud of dust obscured their view. But after a couple of seconds, it finally started to settle. What they then saw in front of them was a Myth wizard, who was kicking the Cyclops' large feet. The wizard seemed to be the same age as Tyler, but his appearance seemed to completely contrast from the male Thaumaturgist: He had black hair, very dark skin, and dark grey eyes, which now looked extremely furious. He was wearing black and red robes, shoes, and hat that looked like they were from Krokotopia. The wand in his hand had a golden cobra head on it.

Victoria let out a frustrated sigh, but Tyler seemed a little amused.

"Isn't that your Myth friend, Michael Starstrider?"

She gave a curt nod.

"Why the hell didn't I guess that this had to do with _him_?" she whispered to herself.

The Cyclops, who seemed confused, stopped swinging his hammer. Instead, with its one eye, it was staring at Michael. It started scratching its head as though it was trying to figure out what was going on. But Michael seemed unaware of the minion's pause. He continued to yell orders and kick the Cyclops' feet.

"I don't know. Maybe you don't think too much," Tyler chuckled.

Victoria's expression showed nothing, but she quickly jabbed her elbow into his rib cage.

"Ack! Okay, maybe I went a little far with that," he stated. He started to gingerly rub his ribs to get rid of the pain.

Victoria kept observing Michael, who started to look as though he wanted to tear the hair off of his head.

"Exactly how many times have Myth minions done this kind of damage now?" Victoria asked with slight curiosity.

"Depends. You only talking about the times this year _alone?"_

Again, Victoria sighed.

"Why do their minions always have to destroy at least one building..? I mean, it seems to happen almost every year here," she whispered to herself.

What Victoria said was true. During the early months of autumn, when students were learning a new spell from their school of choice, many Conjurers were learning how to summon a new Minion for themselves. Usually, most of the students were able to control them. But some of them—usually the less talented students—would sometimes lose their ability to command them and the Minions would run amok in the city. People usually feared the times when Journeyman ranked Conjurers learned how to summon a Cyclops, since they were big enough to destroy buildings with their large hammers, just like the Cyclops in front of them did with the library.

"I know what you mean," Tyler responded.

Victoria raised a white eyebrow at him.

"Where is this going?"

She didn't need to ask the question to know what he was talking about. But it stilled worried her a little.

"Well, it seems that most of the damage done here that is _not_ caused by rogue monsters is either because of Myth people's minions or a Storm spell gone wrong. Since Starstrider there is obviously not Storm, it's his minion's fault."

Victoria softly gulped.

_Please don't say it Tyler_, she thought to herself, wincing.

"In fact, this is why I _hate_ Myth! The teachers—well, mainly Professor Drake—never seem to care if they teach inexperienced students how to summon minions. Especially someone like _Michael Starstrider_. I mean, come on! We both know that he's not exactly the brightest torch around here. Actually now that I think about it, I don't understand how he even got into Ravenwood—"

As he was speaking, his voice got noticeably louder with each word, which caused Victoria's eyes to grow wider every second out of utter shock. She soon started glancing back and forth between outside and her friend, who, at this point, was basically yelling his frustration out to himself. Quietly, she started to slowly back away from him while trying not to trip on any rubble that was near her feet. When she felt that she was far enough, she teleported away with a soft _poof!_

"—even though he can't even seem to cast a simple Pixie spell properly! What the hell is up with that!? Novices seem to do a better job at it than him! If you ask me, he should've been Storm. He'd fit in since he seems to fizzle so much. Not to mention he's just as…"

Tyler froze in mid sentence when he started to notice how silence it was around him. It soon caught his attention that he was alone when he looked behind himself to see that Victoria had disappeared.

_Tap._

"Oh there you are Vi—"

He turned around, but instantly froze again. It wasn't his friend he saw. Instead, it was Michael. And he didn't seem too happy.

"Eh, um… Hey, what's up?" Tyler said faintly and gulped.

Michael stayed silent while giving Tyler a chilling death glare. For a second, Tyler wondered if it was scarier than the one Victoria gave him half the time.

"You know, if you ask me," Michael whispered in a cold mocking way, "_you_ should be in Storm. You'd fit right in."

Michael crossed his arms and silently looked at Tyler with the same chilling stare from before. Then Tyler looked behind Michael and noticed that the Cyclops minion was right behind the Myth wizard, staring at him with its one eye. Tyler thought that it seemed as mad as it's master.

"Um…"

"Minion…"

The Cyclops gave its full attention to its master in front of him now.

"Do what you wish with him," Michael quietly said.

Yellow and blue light enveloped him as he teleported away. When he was gone, the light quickly faded. Only a few seconds later, the minion picked up the giant stone hammer and prepared to swing again.

"Oh, crap."

* * *

(Another) Author's Note: If there are mistakes on this chapter, I wont bother to fix them since I'm either too lazy or too busy to do anything about it.

I cannot stress this enough to you people: **LEAVE COMMENTS!!!** At least say its ok or something like that. Just no flames. Please?

Anyways (I like saying words like that a lot, dont I?), this story is just a poor attempt at some humor and drama. It'll get a little more violent and dramatic towards the end, but that's all I'm gonna say for now. (I feel that I'm much better at the dramatic stuff, but that's just me) :D

Again: **_PLEASE_ LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU READ THIS!!! I'D REALLY LIKE A FEW OF THOSE FOR ONCE. :(**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary**: I'm gonna tell you this right now: If you haven't read the summary, then chances are likely that you didn't even read the first chapter. So go back and read it before you come back here please.

**Author's Notes**: Its about TIME that I posted chapter two!

Before I say anything else, do me a favor please? Go onto my profile and take the poll there. It's really important for me to get answers from it!

Well, okay, on with the notes...

This one kinda bugged me when I was in the middle of making it more interesting. I don't know if its because making the second chapter of any story throws me off or if its because I was too freakin' lazy, but it made me strangely nervous. And I really doubt that its because on the first chapter, I got **_8 REVIEWS_** and it made me pressured to do an _amazing_ job on this one too! I mean, that's crazy talk, right?

Right...?

_Oh no... CHAPTER TWO!! PLEASE DON'T BE THE WORST THING I'VE EVER WRITTEN HERE!!!!!!_

*cries, then gets a bloody nose and faints*

* * *

September 4, 2004

4:25 PM

"Dang it!"

Within the spacious, deserted, and extremely red Mooshu arena, Alexandra Soulsinger was quietly growling in annoyance. Her yellow cat-like eyes were furiously glaring at the golden cobra head of her wand, while her hand was gripping the handle of it to the point that her knuckles were turning white.

"Come on, Sunbird! You were really nice to me yesterday. What the heck is wrong with you," she yelled.

Alexandra loosened her grip on the handle and hissed in discomfort. She took a look at her fingers to see that one of her fingernails had something warm and red on it. Upon further inspection, she found a tiny cut on her thumb.

"You see what you're doing to me? I'm bleeding," she whispered to the inanimate cobra head, pointing at the blood that was now starting to travel to her pale palm.

Alexandra breathed, licked the blood away from her hand (she flinched from the taste and stinging feeling when she licked the cut), and roughly combed her purple hair with her fingers in frustration. After stroking her hair to put down any loose strands, she took another deep breath, raised her arm, and concentrated some of her Magical Energy to the golden wand. Some of the energy left the tip of it, and a Fire symbol was being traced in front of her, a few sparks flying out of it. When the symbol was completed, it glowed a bright, fiery red. The girl could feel the heat of the symbol on her bare hand.

"Sunbird."

She quickly flicked her wand and pointed it towards the ground.

_Fizzle!_

The Fire symbol turned black and disintegrated into small flakes of ash in front of Alexandra's feet. Her eye twitched as she glared at her wand again. From the glint of rage in her eyes, it seemed as if she was trying to melt it with her stare.

"What. Is. Wrong with you!?"

Immediately, Alexandra began to smack the cobra-headed wand with her left hand. She kept doing that until she accidently hit the sleeve of her white and purple school robes, which got singed by the wand's contact, and hissed again.

"Do you hate me or something," Alexandra growled.

The cobra head stayed motionless.

"Don't mess with me! I know you got a mind of your own, so answer!"

"Talking to your wands again?"

Alexandra tore her eyes away from the wand in her hand. Slightly shocked and confused, she looked around herself, but didn't see anyone.

"Alex, I'm up here."

Following the sound of the voice, Alexandra slowly looked up to the stands, where people occasionally came to witness any battle that was going on. Up there, leaning on the red wooden railings that separated the arena and the stands above, she saw a boy who seemed to be a few years younger than her. He had short, sky blue hair, pale skin, and innocent-looking dark blue eyes. His uniform was bright blue with a small amount of black on the sleeves and pointed hat.

"Ah! Hey Nicolas," she said, waving at him.

"Hi," he answered cheerfully with a big smile. "So what's the problem for you now?"

Alexandra sighed.

"My Sunbird spell. It keeps fizzling."

"Ah," he said.

A glint of annoyance appeared in her eyes. She snorted at him.

"Ah? Is that _all_ you can say? _Ah!?_ You have any idea how long I've been here, trying to summon it!?"

Nicolas blinked, but his expression stayed the same.

"Okay, let's just calm down," he said serenely.

Nicolas raised his right hand and his fingers began to sparkle with emerald green light. As this happened, a sparkling, bright green circle began to form around Alexandra's feet. The green light began to swiftly travel up and around her body, and her feet began to float in mid air. As the spell traveled higher and higher, taking her body with it, her feelings of frustration began to slowly melt away, being replaced by pure calmness, the kind she only felt when she was peacefully asleep.

The spell only lasted for two seconds, but it felt much longer for Alexandra. When it slowly faded, she landed softly on the ground and sighed.

"You couldn't make it last a _little_ longer?" she asked hopefully, looking up at him.

Nicolas shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry Alex. Minor Blessing isn't supposed to do much to begin with, especially with someone your level. For someone like you, it's usually only enough to relieve stress and heal tiny scratches," he responded.

Alexandra pinched her lips together, as though she had just tasted something sour.

"Oh… Right."

Nicolas laughed softly. Blushing slightly, she began to turn away from him.

_Wait a sec_, she thought to herself as she stopped in her tracks.

"Hold on!"

Alexandra spun around and pointed an accusing finger at the boy.

"I thought you were only ten years old! You're not supposed to be at the school!" she suddenly yelled at him.

The blue-haired boy jumped out of surprise. When he blinked, his body became less tense.

"Um, yeah," he said calmly. "But Professor Sylvia Drake gives me private Life lessons to help control my abilities."

Her mouth began to hang open as her eyes showed the surprised feeling that she had inside her mind. Nicolas seemed to notice the small change in her expression, since his blue eyes began to show worry.

"Um… Is there a problem..?"

When he asked her, his face showed her how bothered he was. Instantly noticing why he said that, Alexandra immediately snapped her mouth shut.

"Sorry," she responded.

"You seemed worried for a moment? What's wrong?"

Feeling her face turn red again, Alexandra glanced at the ground in front of her.

_How do I explain this?_

"It's just… I mean…

"Do you know of any wizard who's had to take early Life lessons?"

As she gave her attention to Nicolas again, his expression showed nervousness.

"Why? Is private lessons a bad thing to happen," he asked her timidly.

Alexandra squeaked.

"That's not what I mean! I'm sorry," she blurted out.

She was sure that right now her face was as red as a tomato. To try to calm down, she cleared her throat for a moment.

"Well, you know who Dmitri Jenson is, right," Alexandra asked Nicolas.

Immediately after she asked him, his eyes lit up with joy.

"Who doesn't?" Nicolas said confidently. "Famous pop singer, generous Earth humanitarian, and a pretty powerful Theurgist."

Alexandra chuckled.

"I guess you're a fan," she jokingly said.

Nicolas only nodded happily.

"But I think saying powerful is a major understatement. In fact, I think many actually consider him to be one of the greatest healers of our time. Some of my Life friends even think that he is more powerful than Sylvia Drake."

Nicolas nodded again in agreement.

"I think that if Professor Drake wanted to quit, they'd ask Dmitri to take over as head of the Theurgist Department at school," he stated.

Then Nicolas paused and gave Alexandra a look of confusion again.

"But what does this have to do with my lessons?" he finally asked her.

For a moment, Alexandra stayed silent.

"Don't you think that someone as powerful as Dmitri would be a weakling as a child?"

Nicolas place a hand on his chin as he thought. Slowly, he shook his head.

"I would think that he'd have a lot of Mana when he was younger, or he could've been lucky and just happened to become what he is today."

"Well, do you think that he would be able to control that power without learning _how_ to manage it?"

At first, it didn't seem as though Nicolas comprehended what she said. But after a few short moments, his dark sapphire eyes grew wide as it showed his realization.

"A-are you trying to say that I might—?"

_Poof!_

A cloud of light blue and white light popped out of nowhere next to Nicolas. When it quickly faded, a girl appeared and took its place. The new girl seemed to be older and slightly taller than Nicolas. Her white hair and outfit seemed a little messy and had some black smudges, and her stunning emerald-green eyes were the only signs that showed how exhausted she was. But Alexandra felt scared, even though the girl was not looking at her. They felt too... Menacing.

"Phew," she exclaimed as she leaned against the wooden railings.

"Hey Victoria," Nicolas said, smiling.

Alexandra placed a hand softly on her mouth to suppress a gasp.

_W-w-what? Victoria..? Surely not Victoria _Darktalon_… Or is it? Because she's deffinitely scary enough._

Victoria looked at Nicolas. The look of exhaustion left her face and she became blank as she ruffled his blue hair.

"Hey little bro," she said affectionately.

An awkwards silence filled the arena. (At least, that's what Alexandra felt it was). But after what felt like an eternity, their mouths began to twitch slowly into smiles. Then they both laughed. The chilling look in Victoria's eyes instantly went away, and they suddenly sparkled with happiness. The look completely allured Alexandra as her fear subsided.

_She should look happy all the time. It makes her even more beautiful._

"What are you doing here though? I thought you were studying for the finals. You usually take longer."

Victoria stopped laughing as her smile slowly fell, until a small frown formed on her lips.

"Well," she told Nicolas, visibly uncomfortable, "Um... Let's just say that Tyler is _probably_ gonna hate me for a while."

Nicolas started to frown like Victoria, as if what she said had put him on edge. But unlike Victoria, he seemed to be scared of something unknown.

"Um, you don't mean like… Before..? Do you?" he whispered.

Alexandra could see Victoria's eyes blink and her body stiffen out of surprise.

"Oh no, definitely not," she answered exasperatedly while waving her hands in front of herself, as though to emphasize her answer.

Nicolas sighed and they both began to relax.

"Yeah, if that _was_ the case, he would've been dead by now," she continued to say.

She playfully nudged his arm with her elbow as her smile appeared again, although it now looked as though it was forced.

"That's good," Nicolas sighed. "I mean, you remember how upset Stephen was back then, though? He looked as though he wanted to blow Tyler up to—"

_Stephen? _Stephen Darktalon? _Then that means…_

"You _are_ Victoria Darktalon!"

Both Victoria and Nicolas jumped and turned their heads towards Alexandra.

"Um, yes? And you're Alexandra Soulsinger, my brother's Fire friend," Victoria stated, looking back and forth between Alexandra and Nicolas.

The purple-haired girl gasped.

"You know my name?"

Victoria nodded cautiously. Alexandra didn't seem to notice it, but Nicolas' expression hinted at the panic that was starting to build up inside of him.

"Uh, Alex—"

"Oh my gosh! She knows my name! Yay!"

As she said that, Alexandra began to move her feet. She then started to skip around the arena, yelling out of joy. It didn't take her a long time before she started to dance and sing wildly. But as she was celebrating, Victoria and Nicolas were looking at each other, mystified.

---

"Um, I guess she's a fan of yours," Nicolas stated.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria nodded, raising an eyebrow to show how strange the thought was to her. "But I have to admit that you've made a strange friend."

Nicolas didn't reply. After a few minutes of giving each other confused looks, they turned their attention back to Alexandra, who happened to still be reveling in the arena. After a few seconds of observing the Fire girl, Victoria pointed her head towards her brother.

"Seriously though, what's with her? It's kinda weird to see a Pyromancer get so excited to see an Ice—"

But Victoria was unable to finish her thought before Nicolas abruptly placed his hands on top of her shoulders and shoved her below the wooden railings next to them. Less than a second later, she felt an unbearable heat wave fly above her head, barely missing her white hair. When it disappeared, she noticed that a few of the seats behind the railing had caught in fire. She then looked down to the arena to see that the tip of Alexandra's golden wand was in flames.

"Damn."

"What's happening," Nicolas asked as Alexandra's wand began to fire flames towards every direction.

Victoria sighed.

"Well, from what I can tell, she isn't really paying too much attention to her emotions right now," she explained in a monotonous tone, as though this was a boring lecture she was reciting. "Extreme emotions—you know, ones like rage, agony, or even excitement—can cause an inexperienced wizard to lose control of their powers. This usually only happens when magic is showing signs of its presence in young kids. It's how nearly everyone finds out if they could have the possibility of becoming a wizard. But right now, it's just a nuisance."

"First of all, why did you recite that like it was a speech? Second, 'just a nuisance?' She's burning a quarter of the Mooshu arena!"

"Its a habit, and it could be worse, kid."

_Crackle!_

"See? It just got a little worse."

They both looked up to see that part of the red railing above them had caught on fire. When Nicolas saw how nonchalant Victoria was about the situation, he got a little upset.

"How can you act so calm if we might die from an out of control Pyromancer? Don't you want to stop this before she kills us," he said, with fear perceptible in his voice.

Out of the blue, Victoria swiftly turned her head to her brother. Her eyes seemed to glow with a very clear, threatening message that only he could see.

"You think I'm just gonna let us die from this..? What the hell is wrong with that head of yours!? Has Life screwed up your mind? Have you forgotten our past also? Because here's some news: Unlike you, I haven't gotten that weak, Nicolas!" she yelled as hostility was dripping from every word.

Nicolas gulped. Victoria was usually much kinder to him than to others, including Stephen. She rarely snapped at him like that, if at all. But he couldn't deny the fact that he had probably crossed the line with what he said.

"…No. Sorry."

Nicloas sniffed to try to keep his tears from even forming. Victoria seemed to notice his attempts because her hostile expression melted away as she realized what she had done.

"No Nick. I should be apologizing," she said. "Sorry I snapped at you like that. I've just been a little stressful lately."

Before she could say more, she looked away from him as a jet of fire came flying in between them. She seemed unfazed by it, but Nicolas moved his arms in front of him and jumped away.

"Seriously though! I just got away from a Cyclops a few minutes ago! Now I gotta deal with a Fire girl that doesn't realize that she's gonna burn down the arena," Victoria yelled to herself.

They both stood up from their hiding spot when Alexandra had her back towards them. Her wand was still shooting fire in random directions while she was completely oblivious to what was happening. As she was doing this, Victoria held her right hand out in front of her while her fingers began to sparkle with light blue and white light, aiming them in Alexandra's direction. She then swiftly made a flicking motion with her fingers and the sparkles vanished.

_Clink!_

An invisible force mysteriously hit Alexandra from behind and she immediately toppled to the ground. The fire from the wand's tip immediately died when the wand fell from her hand. But after a moment, Alexandra didn't get up. Instead, her body stayed eerily limp, showing no signs of life.

"Victoria!! Did you just kill her!?" Nicolas screamed.

Victoria didn't look at him as she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"God, kid, it's only a Freeze spell. She's just _Stunned_. The spell will wear off on its own—"

"AHH!!"

Victoria glanced towards her brother. She tried not to roll her eyes again when she saw that half of one of his blue sleeves had caught on fire, probably from the jet of fire that had nearly hit them earlier. He was crying while violently shaking the burning sleeve in a feeble attempt to put the fire out.

"Get it off! Get it off!" he sobbed, tears falling from his closed eyes.

As he kept weeping, Victoria just stared at him, feeling completely awkward about the moment. Not upset or concerned, just—awkward.

_This is officially the_ weirdest _day I've ever had._

With another soft _clink,_ a silver wand appeared in Victoria's hand. She then walked up Nicolas with a bored countenance and sighed irritably.

"Okay kid; hold still if you don't want to lose a finger from frostbite."

* * *

**(More) Author's Notes**: *Naomi's sister dumps freezing water on head*

GASP!! What happened!?

Oh right. Chapter two!

Oh, you just read it..?

PLEASE TELL ME IT DIDN'T SUCK!!! I can understand if its not as good as chapter one, but still! This isn't my week! :X

EDIT: After reading this again, I TRIED making this sound more interesting. I won't point out what I did, but I just wanted to say that I at least try to make my work _seem_ nice. (I'm a perfectionist, yet very lazy).

**OK!! REVIEW TIME, OR I MIGHT START LOSING MOTIVATION TO WRITE THIS!!!!**

**AND _PLEASE_ TAKE MY POLL! IT'S ON MY PROFILE AND IT'LL ONLY TAKE A COUPLE SECONDS. PLEASE!? IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:** Finally. Chapter 3 is up! Woo!

Before I forget, I have another poll up now. Could you waste two seconds of your life by voting on it please?

Anyways, sorry about the wait. I was swamped with school work, my parents were bugging me about how much time I spend on the computer (which isn't much to begin with), and on my rare free time, I usually just read _Hetalia: Axis Powers_ and _Death Note _fan-fics... So sorry. ^^'

Hmm, what's to say about this chapter... Well, it might be one of the more dramatic ones in the story. I tried my best to show that, but we'll see how I did. I didn't stress as much with how you people would feel about this one, but I don't know if that's good or bad. Actually, what got me frustrated was mainly the dialogue and trying to show _human emotions _without being too bland with my wording. Oh well, all I know for certain is that this is (based on word count) one of the longest chapters I've written so far. That counts for something, right?

By the way, I'm sorry that I confused a few of you people on the last chapter. I didn't mean to do that. Ich bin doof! *hits her head on a nearby wall and faints*

**NH's sis:** Um... Just read this while I try to wake her up. Again.

* * *

September 12, 2004

5:17 PM

The numerous clouds made the sky black as night above the streets of Triton Avenue. The chilling rain it brought made every inch of the neighborhood soaked, and the strong and angry wind deafened the sounds of the nearby waterfalls and the mill, which was perched on top of the high, purple-stoned cliffs above. It was a scene where peace and chaos seemed to mingle together, but where nature reigned supreme above it all. But for the Storm wizard standing in the center of a small arena, these occurrences didn't even phase him. The storm wasn't the reason why he seemed occupied.

Please _tell me that you're not outside in Triton Avenue… Ah who am I kidding? Of _course _you are._

The Storm wizard smiled at the comment. With his eyes closed, he tilted his head towards the sky and breathed in the air around him. The blue hat he wore fell off his head, leaving his snow-white hair to be barraged by the rain. The raindrops were like sharp, cold needles on his skin, but he easily ignored it. His navy blue and black jacket and pants had already been soaked for about half an hour now.

_You don't hear me complain to you whenever you hang out in Colossus Boulevard during a blizzard,_ he pointed out to the voice in his head.

_True,_ the voice responded,_ but _I _don't have to deal with a little issue called lightning! You realize that it's basically suicide to just stand around with lightning all over the place, right?_

He mentally chuckled.

_I'm not crazy, Victoria. At my level, I'd quickly get killed if lightning hit me. That's not the case though, is it? All that's happening now is a tiny little shower._

With the rain still bombarding him, he titled his head back down, keeping his eyes shut. He then held his right palm in front of him. A small _zap_ was heard and he clenched his hand around the wand that had appeared in mid air. The Storm wizard didn't need to look at it to know that it had a lilac-colored handle, and that on its tip was what looked like a small, blue globe of a far away world called "Earth."

_Now, can I please practice in peace?_

No voice responded, and the only sounds the Storm wizard could hear was the deafening howl of the wind and the heavy rainfall slamming into the water of the river, which surrounded the small arena like an ocean around an island.

_…Just don't get into trouble, Stephen._

Stephen smiled triumphantly.

_I'll take that as a "yes" then,_ he said to the voice. The voice when silent and he could tell that the presence in his mind was gone.

Stephen barely had time to practice his spells recently. Since the school year was almost over, studying for the upcoming exams was more important at that point. But even for someone like Stephen, who was fairly quiet and preffered to study than to socialize with others, he felt that if he did not take a break soon, he would go crazy. So when he heard that a storm was coming on Sunday afternoon, he jumped at the opportunity.

With his eyes still closed, Stephen started to wave his wand in smooth, graceful motions. As he moved, he could feel his Mana slowly move through his arm and to the tip of the strange wand he held. In front of him, he could feel the powerful electrical energy of his Storm symbol on his cold, slick skin. The charge from the symbol tickled the hand that held the wand, making his heart race with excitement. He felt powerful as he began to flick his wand to cast the spell.

"I knew you'd be here."

Stephen's arm tensed as he froze.

_Fizzle!_

He supressed a growl from escaping he throat.

_Damn it._

Lowering his arm, Stephen turned around slowly and reluctantly. Opening his dark blue eyes, he gave the uninvited guest an empty stare.

"Well, well. if it isn't Jonathan Duskglade. What brings a thing like you here?"

The man called Jonathan was standing near the bright, round teleporter that was on the ground near the arena. His long cloak and the hood that was on his head were completely black. Stephen was unable to see anything else of him. In fact, if not for the blinding turquoise light of the teleporter behind him, the would have been almost invisible thanks to the darkness.

Jonathan chuckled.

"Tut tut," he answered. "Respect your elders, Stephen Darktalon."

Stephen's eyebrows arched up.

"You're only older by five years. I seriously doubt that you count as one," he retorted.

"But I am still older than you," Jonathan stated cheerfully. "Not only that, but I am also _much_ stronger than an Initiate of your level. You should still be 'friendly' to me. You never know what could happen to you."

Stephen tried to show indifference to his comments on the surface. But at the same time, he was beginning to bite the inside of his cheek out of irritation. He was unable to see Jonathan's face, but he could tell that it had a sickly happy grin plastered on it.

"I didn't realize that Ghouls had to be treated with respect here. After all, I thought all they were good for was grunting and carrying a spade. Not to mention that they smell horrible," Stephen said.

He tried to supress a smirk when Jonathan stayed silent. But after a few seconds, Jonathan's shoulders began to shake and he shook his head. The shaking turned into chuckles, which caused Stephen to raise a white eyebrow out of curiosity.

_Great. What's the foul Ghoul gonna do now?_

"I'm sorry, but your attitude amuses me greatly," responded Jonathan after his chilling chuckles subsided.

When Stephen didn't respond, Jonathan let out a slightly dramatic sigh.

"But to be honest, I feel horrible for you. I thought that your parents would've taught you manners when you were little. It looks as though they didn't do a good job at that."

The chaotic noises around Stephen seemed to be silenced as he suddenly felt a tight knot form in his chest. His eyes barely widened with shock but his jaw still involuntarily clenched to the point that it was noticeably uncomfortable for him. Even though the rain had made his skin cold, he could feel his face and palms begin to heat up from the newfound anger and humiliation that was beginning to build up within him.

_Calm down. No need to get upset at this moment. Breathe,_ he thought to himself as he took deep breaths through his nose and made a fist with his left hand and tightly clenched his wand.

_Why does he do that? Is he really that senseless..?_

"Oh, that's right," Jonathan said as though realizing something important. "You wouldn't even know if they said that to you."

He sighed, this time _far_ too dramatically for Stephen's liking.

"What is it like to have amnesia? Because I would think that it would be a horrible fate for someone to live with. Especially for you."

At this, Jonathan took off his black hood. He was young, but his cheeks were beginning to look hollow, which gave him a skeleton-like face. Yet somehow, the face was able to show what would have looked like genuine concern to almost anyone else. But behind his semi-shaggy black hair, which was beginning to get damp from the rain, Stephen thought his grey eyes had a glint of something very… Evil? Sinister? Demonic? He didn't know. Whatever it was, he blamed it for the sudden burst of electrical energy that was now rapidly flowing throughout his body.

"Hmm. Well, this is odd," Jonathan stated, blinking and looking curiously around his head. "It feels like lightning is coming, but I thought there wasn't supposed to be any."

Stephen gripped the wand in his hand even tighter, but it only made him feel furious. He felt his self control begin to fade, but he didn't care anymore about that. As his grip tightened, the wand began to form a purple electrical current around the orb on its tip. More of Stephen's Mana was slowly and subconsciously being drawn towards the object in his hand. The large amount of energy started to become less orderly and more chaotic in the blue orb, leaving some of the purple electricity to escape and emit small sparks, which zapped the wet ground near his boots.

_Poof!_

Stephen glance to his left to find a collection of maroon-colored sparks appear out of thin air. As soon as they had come, they vanished. In their place was a girl with short and straight black hair. Her bright and innocent grey eyes and her light skin was all that was visible of her, since her entire outfit matched the color of the darkness that was still around all of them, although he thought that he saw small patches of navy blue in the mix.

"Jacqueline," Stephen whispered.

"Ah, little Jackie," Jonathan said in an affectionate tone. Stephen glanced at him to see that his face now showed a very big and childlike smile.

The girl didn't acknowledge them as she looked up for a second, raised her arms, and began to wave them around elegantly. In front of her, a bright, maroon Balance symbol began to take shape. When she stopped moving and the symbol was completed, the light was strong enough to be considered blinding to Stephen. But when she waved her arms swiftly away from the symbol, it vanished.

A warm gust of wind came over all of them and tousled their hair as a golden bubble appeared from the ground and swiftly surrounded the entire arena. The rain immediately stopped, and instead, golden lights fell softly from the edges of the bubble. Stephen began to feel powerful energy flowing through the air and in him. And when one of the golden lights fell on his cheek, it was absorbed by his skin and an even bigger rush of energy rushed through his veins.

"So this is Power Play," Jonathan stated, his eyes showing great curiosity

As the wizard called Jacqueline was patting her hair, she her head to him and gave him a big grin.

"Yep," she answered him cheerfully.

Jonathan chuckled.

"Interesting. I don't see too many Balance people use it."

"That's because it helps the enemy also. That's never good," Jacqueline said while pouting.

Jonathan rolled his eyes and his smile grew wider.

"Well, it looks like I gotta go. See you back at home Jackie."

"'Kay then," she replied while waving at him.

He nodded to her. He then turned his attention to Stephen again. Even though his expression wasn't threatening in any way, Stephen still noticed a feeling of anger inside of him when he looked at him.

"I'll see you around then?" Jonathan asked.

Stephen stayed silent as Jonathan was engulfed in grey and white lights and vanished from sight. When he was gone, Stephen and Jacqueline looked at each other.

"You're not the kind to just randomly appear where her brother is," he said to her, not as a question, but a statement.

Jacqueline blinked as though confused.

"Really? I would have thought sisters did that a lot. Doesn't Victoria do that to you occasionally?" she asked innocently.

Stephen stayed silent, vacantly staring at her. He patiently waited. After a while though, her smile fell from her face and she softly sighed.

"Geez, I can't lighten the mood now?"

"I want to know _why_ you're here," he said calmly, ignoring her question.

"I think you already know, Stephen," Jacqueline said, her expression suddenly becoming serious.

Stephen stayed silent, which gave him an exasperated sigh from her.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I could feel the tension all the way from Olde Town. It might not have seemed like much if I was the only one to notice it. You know Stephanie Star? She was all the way in the Commons and she was Whispering to me, wondering why she felt like a storm was coming. And Nora was nearby and she started to get jumpy when she began to feel the electricity you were releasing in the air."

Stephen bowed his head slightly and stared at the ground in front of him in case his face showed the slight embarassment that he felt. He said nothing as he slowly bent over and picked up his blue hat, which was still in a puddle. The water was still cold when some drops dripped from the hat to his hands.

"Hmm, I didn't know Necromancers were jumpy people," he said.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes.

"Well, I think she was kind of pulling my leg on that one, but I'm pretty sure that she was still worried…"

Again, Stephen didn't reply. Instead, he looked up and stared at the golden lights that were still cascading from the edges of the glittering bubble around them. But even though the spell shielded them from the cold rain and strong wind, he could smell the scents that came from the weather outside.

"Look, Stephen,"Jacqueline suddenly said. "I know he can be creepy, but he really does mean well. I don't know what he said to you that got you upset, and you don't have to say anything about what you two talked about with me. But just give him a chance, okay?"

For a second, Stephen was too shocked from her request to breathe, which woke him up from his semi-trance. Taking a deep breath through his nose, he tried to relax his muscles that were now stiff again. When he finally calmed down, his eyes turned towards Jacqueline.

---

Jacqueline could think of many emotions that she thought that she saw in Stephen's eyes: Depressed, angry, nervous, bitter, conflicted—and yet, at the same time, they looked very dull. She couldn't decide. But no matter how she saw it, for some unknown reason, his gaze made her feel scared and a little helpless. This didn't bode well for her, and she was worried about his response to her question.

"Tell me something: How does it feel to know who you _really_ are?"

Jacqueline blinked. She did not expect Stephen to ask her such a—_strange_ question out of thin air. At the very least, she believed that she would have to endure a nasty argument with him. But the lack of anger, along with the odd question that he asked her, left her utterly confused. And to make matters worse for her, she was so surprised that she was left completely dumfounded and unable to respond.

"Because if you think about it," Stephen continued, seeming to ignore her silence, "you would probably say that you feel pretty good about having this knowledge. Or maybe you'd say that you never thought about it and are completely indifferent about the fact that you know your name, where you came from, who your family is, what you love, what you hate, what kind of morals you were taught when you were young—" Stephen seemed to notice that his voice was becoming considerably louder with every word, so he stopped himself and rubbed his temple "—I could keep going on.

"But I don't have any of that. At least, not much of it anymore."

Jacqueline woke up from her state of semi-shock after hearing Stephen begin to talk. She tried to ask what he meant, but was interrupted by him.

"You wanna know what I meant by that," he said matter-of-factly, his eyes becoming cold. "Well then fine! I'll tell you."

Jacqueline watched as Stephen fell silent for a moment and his feet shifted nervously. She knew that whatever it was he was trying to say, it was tough for him to get it out. After a while, he huffed to himself and began to talk quietly.

"Because of an… accident that happened to be before I was ten years old, I can remember almost nothing from my past. Nothing at all. Back then, I didn't know who my parents were, and I still can't recall anything about them no matter how many times Victoria tried to help me remember; I couldn't remember what I learned besides basic necessities like my language and social manners; I couldn't remember the history of Mooshu, the homeland that I was once apparently proud of—!

"Hell, I couldn't even remember who Victoria and Nicolas were when I woke up from the incident! I probably would've left them behind because of that. No, scratch that. I _did_ try to leave them once! The only thing that stopped me was the fact that Victoria kept pleading for me to stay with them. I'm pretty sure that I never saw her cry so much before…"

With a quiet _zap,_ his wand disappeared from his tight grip. He then began to grip his hat with both of his hands, which were starting to visibly shake in front of him.

"As you can imagine, I don't feel just one emotion over this— this amnesia. I'm angry at whoever or whatever caused me the memory loss. I don't know how it happened, since no one will tell me. Probably because they knew that I would try to tear them to shreds...

"I also feel so agonized because I feel that it's a great dishonor to my family that I lost the memory of every one of them. I'm always confused because I have no idea if I'm still the same person or not. It might not seem important to others, but it is to me.

"But you know what the worst one is? The worst part is that I feel completely guilty about the fact that I almost left the last of my family behind. All because I thought that they were total _strangers!_ It especially didn't help me that during the year after my accident, no matter what I did and no matter what I said that possibly insulted them, Victoria always stuck by me. She took care of me even when I told her to get lost, and she always stood by me and comforted me no matter how many times I tried to punch her in the face…"

Jacqueline gulped when she felt that her throat had gone dry.

"But that's what sisters should always do. They should always be by their siblings' side," she responded weakly to him.

Stephen chuckled, although it seemed forced and creepy to Jacqueline. Even from the distance between them though, she could hear Stephen let out a staggered breath. His face was still wet from the rain, but she thought that she could see a stray tear roll down his pale cheek.

"I'm sorry Jacqueline, but even if your brother was genuinely trying to comfort me, I don't want pity from him," he said bitterly. "If there's anything I've learned it's that when it comes to my past, I despise pity from others. That is something I can't stand.

"…Besides, I don't trust him. I don't care if he's your older brother _or_ if he's one of Victoria's friends, because _I don't trust him—_" Stephen's eyes suddenly became very dark "—And I hope I never will. There's just something that just doesn't feel right about him. Something evil…"

The tingling sound of the falling golden lights around the two was all that Jacqueline could hear after Stephen fell silent, who was staring at the hat in his now bone-white hands with the same dark look. But she knew that she probably would have been unable to take anymore of his harsh and sobering words. Her mind was far too full of abstract thought. Some of them involved her contemplating the things that she realized that she had taken for granted until he had spoken up. Now that she thought about it, she realized that if she had no idea who she was in life, then life itself would be meaningless. But mostly, her thoughts involved feeling pity and sadness that she now felt for Stephen, knowing full well that he would never accept them, especially from her.

"Stephen…"

_Jackie!_

Jacqueline jumped and squealed out of surprise.

_What the-!_

_Jackie_, the voice continued, _where's Stephen? My Whispers aren't reaching him. Do you know why he isn't responding to me?_

_Who is thi... Oh, Victoria. Hang on a sec,_ she responded.

"Yes Jacqueline?" he asked questioningly.

"Your sister's wondering why you're not responding to her Whispers. Did you block them out of your head or something?"

Stephen sighed. She thought that she heard him mummble "I can never get enough peace around here." He closed his eyes, and as soon as they completely shut, he grimaced.

_I guess she's pretty upset with him._

Jacqueline chuckled to herself when every few seconds, Stephen would flinch slightly, probably due to the fact that Victoria was yelling in his head. But after a few moments, his lips began to curve upwards, and he started to chuckle to himself. The sight began to give Jacqueline a warm and comforting feeling inside of her.

_He really _is _lucky. Now I know why Victoria is so protective when it comes to hi. She might act a little strict with him, but at least it's because she loves him to death. I don't think he _truly_ realizes how fortunate he is to have such a person in his life. I wish my family was more like his…_

"Jacqueline!"

She blinked a couple of time to wake up from her thoughts, and then turned her head to acknowledge Stephen's presence.

"Victoria is still complaining about the fact that Tyler still calls her 'Ed.' She wants you to tell him to quit it. Apparently, he's taking great pleasure in bugging her with the nickname still."

"I don't think I can do much about that," she said, shrugging. "The little bro can be hard to convince."

"Oh, how _pleasant_ for me," he responded sarcastically, but still chuckling. "Well, I have to go now since she won't take no for an answer now. See you later, _Jackie._"

Purple and yellow sparks enveloped him with a loud _poof!_ When the sparks vanished, so did he, leaving behind a confused Balance girl.

"Um…"

_How did he get so... Cheerful all of a sudden? And did that kid just actually call me "Jackie?"_

Running her hands through her black hair, Jacqueline sighed.

_Stephen Darktalon, you're one _strange_ young man._

A second later, maroon sparks surrounded Jacqueline and like Stephen, she disappeared.

The Power Play spell around the arena stayed active for a few minutes longer. But eventually the golden bubble and all of its bright lights faded away, leaving the harsh storm to batter the ground with its chilling drops and the howl of the wind to penetrate the silence once more.

* * *

NH's sis: *dumps ice in her shirt*

Yeowch! Aiya little sis!

**(More) Author's Notes: **Um, anyways, I see that you've made it through another chapter. Congratulations!

Before I forget, can anyone guess where I got inspiration for Jonathan's personality? I'll give you a hint: The influence comes from someone in one of my favourite anime/manga series'. People who guess correctly will get a virtual cookie from me! :D

If you haven't noticed though, I like to switch POV (point of view) on occasions. Sorry if that confuses you, but it's just my style.

If you people find mistakes on this particular chapter, I'm probably not even gonna bother with it. This chapter was so hard to write due to the type of dialogue in it and the fact that I had to get a bit "creative" with feelings! Ugh! I gotta read more angsty books someday...

But good news for me: Next chapter is gonna be a bit more... Well, not exactly "bloody."

**Reminder: Reviews motivate me to write more, so be nice and write one for this chapter please. And also take my new poll if you haven't already.**

Until the next chapter, Auf Wiedersehen!


	4. Chapter 4

**EDIT: Wow. I catch WAY too many typos after submitting stuff. I hate it when that happens...**

**Author's Notes:** Le gasp! After nine months filled with school work and my writer's blocks, I UPDATED THIS STORY! :D

I'm just gonna cut to the chase and let you read this, but there's something I need to address first. I got a review on chapter 3, and it reminded me that I needed to explain something to you guys: _Wizardly (Mis)Adventures_ isn't really a "story" per say. It's more of a collection of loosely-related one/two-shots. All of the stories are in the same universe and use the same characters, but unlike this chapter and possibly one or two future ones, don't expect each chapter to neatly lead in to the next. That's not really my intention with this thing.

(Oh, and by the way, to answer the question that that reviewer had, Tyler's fine. He probably got a little upset after what happened in chapter 1, but he was fine. I made that ending so that others could come up with their own conclusions.)

Oh, and I made references to my favorite anime and movie at least once or twice in this chapter. If you could name them, you will be awesome in my book.

**Warning:** Some slightly gory images and language, but nothing too obscene, hopefully.

* * *

**November 14, 2004**

**13:37**

Outside, a teenage boy stormed out of his dorm room. As he was briskly walking away, he tried his best to smooth out his green hair and robes, which had become slightly disheveled. He flinched when his fingers touched his left eyelid and grimaced when he could feel a tear form from the stinging sensation. When he heard a door open behind him, his pace quickened.

"Hey wait! You okay?"

The boy gingerly placed a finger on the sore eye to wipe off the forming tear.

"Kane, we're sorry. It was an accident," an elegant, accented voice called out.

"Come back, man."

Kane ignored the voices as he entered a long, dark tunnel that was lit only by the small torches on the walls. As he continued to descend it, he could make out the echoes of footsteps not too far away.

"How many times do we have to apologize? Can't you at least turn that bleeding head of yours around and look at us?"

"Don't listen to that killjoy, Kane. At least say some—"

As Kane stepped out of the tunnel's exit and into daylight, he swiftly turned around, surprising the two blonde teenage boys following him.

"I'm not mad, okay? It was all an accident, I get it. I just need some time alone," Kane barked at the two.

"Um, you sure about that? Because you sound like you're really upset with us," the taller blonde said, concern lacing his voice and the blue eyes behind a pair of glasses.

"Shouldn't you heal that eye? It looks bloody awful," the shorter one asked, his large, bushy eyebrows creasing with apprehension above green eyes.

Kane only looked away from them.

"Just leave me alone for a while," he whispered.

After saying that, green and yellow lights surrounded him. When the lights were gone, so was he.

The two blondes glanced at each other, words failing them for a moment.

"...Geez. I didn't know most Life people could get _that_ mad."

The shorter one nodded, threading his fingers through his messy hair. But then he froze.

"...What do you mean by _m__ost_ Life people, you wanker?"

**13:38**

Kane had appeared at the end of the Colossus Boulevard neighborhood, where the tall, fortified blue walls and towers of Gobblestone Castle stood. He crossed his arms tightly around themselves when a gush of freezing wind came over him. His left eye squinted shut and he took a shaky breath.

"Hope this weather does some good for the pain."

Starting to get used to the cold temperature despite only being in the area for less than a minute, Kane walked over to the man-made ledge—Hildreth's Perch, he believed the Thaumaturge wizards called it—next to the castle. He slowly leaned over the stone wall, giving him a good aerial view of the cliff's steep face and the raging river below, which lead to a waterfall that fell into the infinite space below the city's floating piece of land. The wind kept blowing on his back and he soon sensed snow hitting the skin on his neck.

"Bleh!"

Turning his head slightly to the right, Kane could see two identical Gobblers a few feet away. The creatures were like twins—both were large, had red skin, large pointed ears, enormous hands, and they wore the same tight, light green overalls. While they walked around in circles in front of the castle, both of them occasionally tripped on their own two (humongous) feet, still grumbling nonsense.

Shaking his head, Kane went back to staring down the cliff.

_At least they're not too bright_, he though, the edges of his mouth quirking up.

At the moment, no one knew where the Gobblers had come from, but four days ago, they had suddenly showed up inside the Gobblestone Castle with their king and had started making themselves at home in Colossus Boulevard. They weren't the smartest species (which made Kane wonder how they were able to chain signs showing the likeness of the Gobbler King on top of the Ice snow symbols on the castle walls), but their large appetites had caused them to break in to the houses in the neighborhood, stealing any food they could find. Only less than a day later, one of them tried to eat a toddler, which terrified the civilians in the area, making them flee. When the city guards discovered that the Gobblers were somehow able to cast some spells, Initiate-leveled wizards were sent in to investigate the issue.

After three days of the investigation, though, Kane was beginning to wonder if sending Initiate students as scouts was a good idea. From what he could tell, not much progress was being made on getting the annoying Gobblers to leave. The Ice professor had apparently thought the same, since she summoned a few Snowmen to try to deter the bumbling creatures from the city. But doing this seemed to only hinder what little progress was being made, especially when the _Evil _Snowmen were only seen attacking the students.

Thinking over those observations again, Kane just shrugged the thoughts away from his mind.

_They need to learn how to deal with it, I guess._

_"Mist!_ You're kidding me."

"Bleh! Bleh!"

Turning around again, Kane could see that the Gobblers were facing towards his direction, but their attention was directed at a girl that was confronting them. Her short, white hair billowed with the cold wind. The black and navy blue skirt she wore looked tattered, and her left leg, which was covered by black stockings, had small cuts. Kane though he could see something that might have been blood stains on her legs and skirt, but the materials were too dark for him to see them clearly. In her trembling hand, she held what Kane could see was a silver wand.

Kane might have kept himself composed towards the scene, but in truth, worry was starting to build up inside his mind.

"Stop! O-Or," he heard her stammer, gasping for air, "you're dead."

Whether the Gobblers had a hard time understanding her or they just wanted to have her as lunch was unclear. Either way, they kept advancing towards her without second thoughts. It made Kane sigh to himself in order to keep himself calm.

_Might as well try to relieve stress by helping the kid_, he thought, still trying to be nonchalant about the situation as he turned away from the ledge.

Kane heard a small sound as a staff appeared in his expecting left hand. The object itself was a simple piece of wood that went up to his chin. In fact, from the pieces of bark sharply sticking out of the the wood, it looked very old and dull. But this went by unnoticed as Kane twirled the staff in his arms, a leaf-shaped pattern forming in front of him. When the symbol was finished, its yellow-green light glimmered—it made it almost impossible to look at the ground, since the light that reflected off of the snow was far too bright for Kane's liking. Before he let it blind him, he stopped himself from spinning the staff and slammed the end of it into the ground. The Life symbol vanished.

Autumn leaves were conjured, replacing the snow on the ground, while small boulders appear in the center of the pile. The sound of birds chirping and branches breaking came as a tree swiftly sprouted from the foliage-covered ground. As it's growth stopped, the trunk snapped in half, forming two long legs, while two of its large branches became more flexible, becoming the tree's arms. Slowly turning around to look at Kane with its yellow, ancient eyes, it seemed as if it was asking him who the enemy was. Kane gulped.

"The Gobblers. Get them," Kane simply ordered.

The tree-creature only turned away from him, bending down to grab a boulder next to its feet. Kane took his gaze away from the scene and closed his eyes when the boulder was lifted up from the ground and held above the summoned monster's shoulders. He knew what was to come after that as he felt a new wave of uncertainty and uneasiness fester inside of him. (His left eye throbbed when he started squeezing his eyes tighter, but at the moment, he couldn't remember why.)

Nausea threatened to overcome Kane as he heard the tree monster toss the stone, followed by a blood curtling scream that undoubtedly came from one of the Gobblers and a surprised gasp from the girl. His insides began to twist when the creature's wails persisted. The second Gobbler began to grumble frantically, apparently unsure of what to do.

Everything after that for Kane became too chaotic to keep track of, especially after his tree monster's bark cracked, letting him know that it was picking up another boulder. Various sounds, from the Gobbler's growls to the creaking of the tree's limbs, began to overlap in his mind. Kane still looked away out of fear, though, not even wanting to imagine the possibly gory scene forming before him. Because of this, he had no idea how long the struggle lasted—it could have been hours for all he cared. At some point, the first Gobbler's wails subsided, but only to be replaced a short time later by the sounds of the tree throwing one last boulder, the second Gobbler beginning to groan in pain. (Kane didn't care about that, sadly; he was, at this point, too busy trying to quell the strong gut-wrenching sensations.) Before they could evolve into a terrible scream, something that sounded similar to a strong wind and shattering glass came and went, and the Gobbler went silent.

A gust of wind blew on Kane's face. The putrid smell of blood that came with it made his stomach churn. He was sure that his face was turning green as the seconds ticked by. He could feel the bile starting to burn his throat—

"Are you going to be a chicken all day, Life guy?"

Slightly insulted by her question (he helped save her, after all), Kane's eyes snapped open to give a retort to the girl. The words, though, got stuck in his tongue when he saw how weak she appeared. She was now facing Kane, allowing him to view the large gash on her leg, the scratches on her arm, her tattered clothing, and the long cut on her left cheek. If it were not for the blood splattered on her dark clothing, he would have possibly even thought that the girl looked pathetic. But what mystified him was that even though she was weary to the point that she was trembling and panting heavily, her lips were curved in a menacing but oddly attractive smirk.

"Hey! Wake up," she barked at him in a seemingly playful voice. But Kane, for no apparent reason, could sense a commanding undertone to it, which made him gulp in embarrassment because of how he had spaced out like that.

"I think... we both know... that I... need help... now," she said between sharp breaths. "I'm a little... too weak—"

At this, she flinched, her legs beginning to buckle.

"...to use a... Pixie spell."

Finally realizing what she was asking for, Kane gripped his staff (which, he now realized, he was using as a crutch during his bouts of nausea) with both hands and began to twirl the piece of wood again. The same Life symbol from before began forming in front of him. And like the last time, the leaf shape vanished when he slammed the staff to the ground.

Instead of a large tree creature, a small, black portal formed on the ground between the two wizards. From the portal, a blur of orange shot out of it, said blur soon revealing itself to be a Fairy that waved at them both. Nearly everything—saved for her large, grass green eyes—was orange, from her outfit, hair, wings, and even her extremely pale skin showed tints of the color.

"I'm going to need your help, Eva," Kane said to the Fairy minion, smiling fondly at her.

"Yes master," she replied in a high-pitched voice, flying towards the white-haired girl. The girl's body shimmered with green and yellow light as the Fairy's spell caused her injuries to either fade away or grow smaller. She slowly began to rise from the ground as she outstretched her arms, her expression starting to change from hidden agony to a more peaceful one as the spell progressed.

"Pixie."

A cloud of light green sparks bursts in Kane's view and a smaller creature appeared from it. This one looked similar to the Fairy, but wore green and had butterfly wings that were the same color, with a little bit of pink and purple in the mix. At seeing Kane, the tiny Pixie's mouth cracked into a big smile as she waved at him.

"Help heal the kid over there," he ordered the Pixie, gesturing to where the girl was still floating.

The Pixie only nodded to him, fluttering away to the Fairy and the young girl. She stopped in front of them and simply raised her tiny arms. With this, the young girl seemed to glow from the sparkling white lights that appeared as many of her larger wounds instantly vanished. It was then that Kane noticed that her face now held a large smile while she giggled to herself with pure joy. Her emerald eyes, shining similar to the lights around her, revealed the same excitement, if not more of it.

The Fairy and Pixie vanished from sight moments later, leaving the girl to softly land on to the pavement, the lights fading soon after.

"Thanks," she said, the remnants of her previous smile still lingering on her mouth.

"Um, no problem..." Kane paused. "Um, I'm sorry, but what's your name? I don't think I've asked you yet."

She blinked, then walked towards him with an outreached hand.

"Victoria Darktalon. Third year Thaumaturge. And you?"

Kane glanced at the hand and immediately shook it. He tried not to grasp her hand too roughly, even when Victoria was close to giving his a death grip. (He told himself it was because he wasn't too sure if the spells he used were completely effective.)

"Kane Darrison. Er, fourth year Theurgist."

Victoria nodded, although when she began to stare perplexedly at him, Kane became confused.

"Um, is there s—?"

But Kane was cut off from his inquiry when Victoria suddenly walked up to him and brushed some of his green hair from his eye, almost making him jump away from surprise. He thought that when her oddly soft fingers accidentally brushed his forehead, the skin that was touched felt much warmer than it did a second ago.

"Shouldn't you heal that? You're a Life wizard—I wouldn't think that it would be too tough for you to fix that black eye of yours," she questioned him as she arched one of her thin eyebrows.

Kane looked at Victoria, as though asking what she was talking about. Slowly but surely, realization dawned on him as he figured it out: She was pointing out the eye that he had completely forgotten about until that instant. It made him want to slap himself in the face for not remembering to cure the bruise. He was beginning to hope that this wasn't embarrassing enough for him to start sweating. (_It's cold outside—it'd be a bad idea to have frozen liquids stuck on me_, he thought.)

But then Kane also began to realize that it probably looked like he was starting at Victoria, probably appearing stupid in front of her. Feeling his cheeks begin to heat up, he quickly blinked and moved away from the girl's gentle (and probably unintentional) touch.

"O-Oh yea, I forgot about that," Kane softly stammered, looking away from Victoria.

His fingers barely began sparkling green as Kane lightly touched them on the injured eyelid. The area where the bruise was tingled, feeling warm for less than a second before he noticed the soreness swiftly vanish.

"Better?" he asked, blinking the eye to reassure himself.

"Yes," Victoria simply answered.

Kane nodded at this.

"Thanks for pointing that out for me," he told her, slowly beginning to turn away.

"Just out of curiosity, how did you get that? I didn't take Life people as being a bunch of scrappers," she said with curiosity lacing her voice.

He turned to her again. At those last words, Kane thought that her mouth twitched and that she was trying to suppress a small chuckle.

"It's a long story—I don't think you'd be interested to it anyway, kid."

Even before he saw any kind of reaction from Victoria, he could tell that he had probably used the wrong choice of words for her. Sure enough, Kane noticed that her lips pinched together in what was obviously irritation. Her jaw and shoulders also became rigid. Her eyes, though, were what made Kane especially nervous; they only squinted slightly as her white eyebrows grew a millimeter closer, but the small change was enough to complete the icy countenance she now displayed.

But Kane's expectation for what would happen next, though, immediately flew out the window when she only shrugged at the statement, her face becoming calm and nonchalant.

"Even with that little mishap with the Gobblers, I'm kind of ahead of schedule."

Kane blinked. Then blinked again, his eyebrows scrunching together because of his bewilderment.

_Did... What? "Mishap?" You looked like you were going to die!_

Again, signs of confusion appeared on her face, but were gone in a flash by what Kane thought was recognition.

"I went ahead of my group to scout the area to see if there would be much trouble in getting here. But I have to admit, they're very slow; I'm still waiting for those guys to catch up," said Victoria, her voice getting slightly softer as she glanced towards the direction of the neighborhood.

"But-"

_That's not what I was talking about!_

"And besides," she interrupted, "you're not an Ice person; You're Life. Call me crazy, but I really doubt that you're here for some important 'mission' that needs attending to, especially since you were just staring off into space before you helped me out."

Kane only stared at her with what possibly looked like shock (he could tell thanks to how she seemed to be containing her chuckles again) as Victoria calmly walked past him in order to casually sit on the edge of the stone sidewalk. Her face was blank now, but Kane thought that he could now see a hint of smugness in her eyes.

"Now, I think we've established the fact that _both_ of us have nothing better to do at the moment. You might as well humor us with your story while we wait."

Victoria let out an innocent grin at Kane as she used her right hand to lightly pat a spot next to her. The scene probably appeared friendly—or at least it would if anyone else was present—while in reality, both were waiting for the other to relent from their cause as they stayed silent, each trying to stare down the other. All that truly disturbed the moment was the occasional gust of bone-chilling winter air, something that both appeared to be able to brush off. But after what might as well have been a hour to him, Kane's patience betrayed him when it wore out. Sighing, he walked over to the girl and sat on the sidewalk.

_Oh, what the hell. I called her a kid; I might as well tell her._

Kane laced his fingers together, wondering how to begin his little "story."

"My roommates were fighting," Kane said.

Silence was his answer. He thought that he had stated that too quickly, since Victoria kept her impassive expression trained on him. When he was about to repeat himself, though, she responded.

"And what else? Do these roommates at least have names?"

For a few seconds, his only response to her was a blink.

"Um, Alfred and Arthur. Is that really relevant?"

"Well, I just wa—"

Kane stared at his hands, waiting for Victoria to give him her answer, but she never finished. He turned his head to ask her why she has stopped mid-sentence. Instead, when he looked up at her, he saw her lips formed into a thin line, but he wasn't certain as to why this time. He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it, but he thought there was also a shade of pink beginning to form on her cheeks.

"Do you mean... Jones and Kirkland?" Victoria asked calmly but, as Kane also noticed, a little too quietly. In fact, the question came out as sounding nervous and uncertain to his ears compared to the confidence she exhibited earlier.

"Yeah, of course. Why do y-?"

Kane paused. "How did you know that I was talking about _those_ two?"

When asked, Victoria's face bloomed from pink to red in an instant. The sight was quickly replaced by her white hair as she turned her attention towards a nearby Douglas Fir, as though it was something fascinating. At least, that was what Kane believed she was staring at—he was still unwilling to look anywhere near where the possibly mangled and bloodied bodies of the Gobblers still laid unattended.

"I've seen Jones and Kirkland before. Multiple times," Victoria finally answered, breaking Kane out of his unpleasant reverie.

"A-ah. A-and what did you think of them?" he quickly asked her, eager to get a conversation started again between the two.

"Well..." started Victoria before she became quiet. Neither of them said a word. Growing impatient again, Kane decided to break the silence—

"They're exactly like an old married couple!" Victoria blurted out to Kane, swiftly turning around to face him. Kane's mouth stood agape, too shocked by her sudden outburst to close it. He was now certain that her blush had invented an entirely new shade of red.

"Um, uh..."

"I-! Wha-! Eh-! I don't like being rude about—er," she stuttered, "subjects like this. I mean, it's their business; nobody's really hurt by it after all. But those two make it far too obvious, especially for me. T-they're always arguing with each other. In class, the Commons, on assigned missions—i-i-it doesn't matter for them. They always find _some way_ to bicker with one another at such ridiculous intervals! But..."

After she fell silent yet again, Kane was left with feelings of bamboozlement, but he still wanted to press her for more information. But before Kane could even open his mouth, he stopped himself. A connection was made inside his brain. Unfortunately, he also wished that he was not hit with the horrifying realization he mind came up with. He tried to gulp, but his throat ran dry on him.

"Y-you know about their... relationship," said Kane hesitantly.

Victoria seemed to go stiff before him, but eventually gave a small nod.

"Alexandria calls it the 'Special Relationship,'" she added in, her voice becoming oddly calm despite the blush he knew was still present.

At this, Kane tried his best not to show the embarrassment that he was attempting to fight against.

"When?" he simply asked.

"...I saw them—together—in the Library, when I was looking for a book. They were in one of the less congested areas of the building," she whispered. Kane had to crane his ears towards her to catch it. Even though, at this point, her white hair was covering her face, he could tell that she was still blushing, since her hands were turning a cherry-red.

"So I guess you know that they were arguing with each other today," said Kane, his face becoming warmer with each word he uttered.

With her face still hidden, Victoria slowly nodded.

"And that this fight turned into one of their uglier ones."

Again, she nodded, but with more vigor. (He thought he could hear her murmur, "Probably because they were getting touchy about their so-called 'secret.'")

"So, er... I think you can see how I got that black eye."

All that Kane got as a response from her was a quick bob of her head.

For a while, as the wind began to pick up speed again, Kane waited patiently to see if Victoria would try to start a different conversation to get rid of the currently uncomfortable atmosphere that had fallen upon them. But even as the snow was beginning to slowly flutter by them, Victoria seemed content with keeping her head low and her tight grip on her knees. He could see that her hands were losing their redness, but whether that was because of her clutching her knees or the freezing temperature, he had no idea. She didn't appear to have a volatile state of mind at the moment, but Kane decided to keep his silence this time, in fear that some unexplained happening would occur if he tried to shatter the nerve-wracking peace.

The awkward silence around them remained for what seemed like hours.

**14:06**

(_Okay, _maybe_ I just have a poor sense of time_, Kane thought as he looked up at what he thought was the sun that was being covered up by grey clouds.)

_"Kuso!"_

Because of the sudden outburst (after what was actually only ten minutes of quiet), Kane jumped, his arms and legs flailing all over the place to prevent him from falling onto the sidewalk. The effort, though, was proven futile as his back landed unceremoniously on snow-covered ground. Speedily getting up before he could let the snow soak his clothes completely, Kane was about to question Victoria on her reason for scaring him half to death with her sudden cry.

However, the words died on his tongue when he turned to the white-haired girl. The expression shown on her pale face gave the impression of seeming fairly normal to him. In fact, it appeared almost impassive. But it was Victoria's emerald eyes that told Kane a different story. They, at first examination, would appear to be reasonably regular to anyone that would even care to glance at her. When he looked closer, though, her eyes appeared more pensive. They had a glazed appearance compared to what he had earlier witnessed in them. What struck him as the strangest part was that the sight suggested that she was looking at something that was too far for him to see with the naked eye.

_A Whisper,_ he realized.

It wouldn't be a stretch to note that most people, old and young, would usually never question the workings of Whispers, the telepathic way of communication for any magical being, mostly reserved for wizards. Nevertheless, if ask about the topic, any regular wizard would say that there was no way to tell if someone was currently Whispering to others. They would say that they would believe that, unless told otherwise, the person or persons in question were acting normally, that it was basically second nature to be able to do whatever you want while Whispering at the same time. Granted, a few of them would be quick to point out that it also depended on how experienced they were: Novice-leveled wizard tended to show more concentration or frustration while Whispering, as opposed to a higher-ranking one.

In most cases, Kane would give a very similar answer. But unlike others, he would point out that it would also have to depend on the person and their character, not just their experience with that for of communication. If asked to elaborate, he would explain that a person's personality, along with their level of maturity in some cases, could occasionally dictate what kind of signs a person showed when Whispering. (Kane would also say that people _do_ show signs of using these mental Whispers—it's just that others don't pay attention to them.) For example, a constantly grouchy and/or antisocial person would appear more upset if interrupted by a message from someone else; an extremely social, egotistical character would look even more smug if there was one or more persons trying to Whisper to them at the same time; or maybe a lonely wizard would suddenly start to smile if they received a Whisper, even if it was from someone they had never met in their entire lives.

This theory was what made Kane realize what was going on with Victoria. In truth, it was the _only_ explanation that made sense to him.

But for Kane, something seemed out of place: From the short amount of time that he spent with Victoria, she struck him as the kind of person who was very mature (if not somewhat easily embarrassed by certain "personal affairs"), witty, and very focused on the job at hand. So it confused him as to why her countenance showed aloofness...

A sudden huff from said girl awoke Kane from his bemused thoughts. Looking back at Victoria, he guessed that what he was looking at what was the ghost of a scowl on her mouth as she glared at the pavement below her, brushing her fingers through snow-white locks. A second later, she sighed as she slowly shook her head.

"About time," she whispered.

"Must have been some conversation you had then," Kane stated.

Her eyebrows scrunched together, but her face quickly softened as she turned her head to Kane again. He could still some signs of her annoyance, however.

"My group is headed this way now. They'll be here in a few minutes," she stated back to him while getting off of the sidewalk to stand up.

"Oh," he said quietly, following her example. He thought he could hear her murmur something, but it sounded to foreign for him to understand what she meant by it.

"About time, too," she said slightly louder, sighing in the process. "_Ich denke... Sie sind zu blöd_. I'm starting to wonder why I even asked for help from _those_ guys..."

As Victoria continued to express her frustration (in languages that were far too unrecognizable for him), Kane perked up at the idea that began forming in his mind.

"What's the problem with them? Sure, they're late, but your teammates don't sound_ that_ bad," Kane slowly said, hoping he used the right words to provoke an answer from the girl.

"They're not complete weaklings, but I wouldn't have chosen them to begin with if the situation had allowed it," Victoria told him, annoyance becoming more evident after each word. It was even beginning to appear on her face again, her scowl growing. Kane figured that it was time to say it now, lest Victoria start to take her anger out in more violent ways.

"Hey, maybe I could help you guys out with your mission," he immediately proposed, throwing in what he hoped was a winning smile. "I mean, it's always good to have a Theurgist on the team, right?"

Victoria, at first, from what Kane could tell, appeared to be caught off guard by his suggestion. She seemed to recover quickly, though, as she gave him a warm smile. But her eyes told a different story to Kane. In fact, they look, to put it simply, apologetic.

"Um," she started, barely glancing away for a second before her eyes fell on Kane's blue ones. "Actually, including me, we already have four people in our group. We also have a healer with us, even if he isn't the greatest one I could get."

A slight flash of agitation was all that Kane got that told him that she was nervous about continuing. He could feel his grin falter slightly, but he hoped that she didn't see it.

"Besides," continued Victoria, "the Headmaster himself told me to make this mission as... 'diplomatic' as possible. You know, without completely endangering my life. Bringing along a fifth person in for what I was sent to do would most likely send the wrong message to the Gobblers. So..."

She gave him a small shrug with her shoulder. "Sorry."

The smile fell. Kane tried not to look away from the girl, even though he could feel the heat start to build up on his face again. In the back of Kane's mind, this reaction confused him to no end. Nobody like being declined in any way, no matter how nice a person was about it—that much was certain to him. But this was something he did _not_ expect; he couldn't understand why her soft rejection made him feel so utterly...

Disappointed.

Kane blinked. That was all it took for him to gain the motivation to pull his smile back up and to try to show as much confidence as he could muster in front of her, despite the fact that she had unintentionally wounded his pride.

"Ah, don't worry, it's alright," Kane told Victoria, the words gliding smoothly from his mouth. It surprised him for a mere second, but the thought was pushed away as he chuckled. (A part of him nagged to him that he was only telling himself that to get through the disappointment, but that was effectively ignored also.)

"Besides, he continued, "it's getting dark here, and my roommates might have cooled down and started to worry about me. And... Well, let's face it—this weather is starting to get to me in a bad way. No offense."

To emphasize his point, Kane brought his hands to his upper arms and began to rub them up and down. Victoria's expression was blank once more. But in her bright eyes, he could have sworn that he saw the lingering remains of guilt.

"Maybe I'll see you around," said Kane as he began to turn away from her again.

"Wait."

Kane stopped in his tracks, turning his head in her direction and raising a green eyebrow. Victoria gave no response, just continued to look at him. He waited patiently for an explanation.

_If either of us need help._

Body going rigid for a small instant, Kane tried not to show too much shock from the new voice that arrived in his inner mind.

_Talk about being blunt and up-front_, thought Kane, forcing his shoulders to slump.

It didn't take him long, though, to digest what Victoria was offering to him: Victoria, from what Kane could see, truly wanted to continue communications between them; she wanted them to become trusted allies, possibly friends.

_Trust_. Victoria was asking for them to trust each other—to the point where they could freely shared their subconscious thoughts. The very idea was mind-boggling to Kane. Here was this stranger—this young, tough, and admittedly attractive Ice girl—asking him to share something that he saw as personal, a privilege that should only be given to good friends and family. Kane only met Victoria less than an hour ago! (Give or take some time.)

Normally, Kane would politely refuse the gesture. Sometime, he would even run if the offer was even mentioned.

_Yeah. We'll have each other's backs, okay?_ he told her.

But something was different about Victoria—Kane could tell. He had no clue why, but something made him instantly like this girl that he had known for a short time. (How long that had been was his guess at this point.) There was something that made him feel certain that he could trust his life in her hands, something that made him uneasy at the thought of _her_ life at risk yet again. Something inside of him told him that despite her flaws, she was someone that did everything she could to never disappoint the ones she held dear.

Granted, Kane couldn't even begin to imagine what that "something" was. But at the moment, he didn't care.

For Victoria, he was willing to take a leap of faith.

**14:15**

Victoria had to admit one thing—seeing Kane become extremely squeemish at the sight of the bloodied remains of the Gobbler bodies next to them before he ported away was an amusing sight, to say the least.

_If only he could see what _real _violence looks like..._

She began to chucked, then clamped her jaw in a futile attempt to trap the hiss that escaped. Gingerly, she clutched her left side, a sharp ache continuing to throb at her ribs. The ice-cold wind whipped strands of her hair up in the air, but she paid no heed to it. She took deep breaths through her nose, then breathed out through her mouth. She continued this exercise until most of the sharp pain started to recede. Slowly removing her hand, she was relieved to discover that there were no traces of blood on her palm.

_Damn. Be happy it got worse after he left_, she reassured herself. _No use in causing more drama._

The pain was tough to deal with, but she concluded that she could deal with it later, since she could feel that the unhealed injury was only a bruise. Victoria continued to ignore her discomfort as she turned her head towards the tall oak doors of Gobblestone Castle. The last time she made a visit there—when she was sent to negotiate with the Gobbler King and was forced to fight the Gobbler Prince just to see him—the doors were wide open, practically asking her to walk inside. Now, though, she wasn't even positive if the large doors were unlocked. And even if they were (which wouldn't surprise her due to the Gobblers' apparent lack of intelligence), Victoria knew the weight of each one was too much for her to possibly even consider opening herself.

Which brought her back to her current dilemma: She needed help; she needed her team to get to the castle. Immediately. Keeping her cool exterior, Victoria ran her hands through her hair in frustration, but was careful of her movements so as not to irk the wound that wasn't completely gone yet.

_I think I'm losing my ability to be patient here._

A sardonic (and more careful) chuckle slipped out of her lips as she shook her head.

"Victoria!"

* * *

**Translations**

_Mist!_ - Crap!

_Kuso!_ - [Due to the fact that most of my readers here are possibly much younger than me, I refuse to say anything about this one.]

_Ich denke... Sie sind zu blöd. - _I think... They're too stupid.

**(More) Author's Notes:** lol! I leave you on a cliffhanger. And I've converted to using military time! I'm _evil_. (But I know you guys still like me.)

This chapter was originally supposed to go in to where Victoria goes and fights the Gobbler Prince (again), but when I got to the point of having more than 7 pages written down on notebook paper, I realized that it needed to be cut short and continued in chapter 5. And seeing that I have, not including these ANs, _**6,822**_ words on this chapter, that was probably a wise idea. (If you're curious, this entire rough draft version ended up being on 13.5 pages of notebook paper. _College rule_ paper.)

In other news, I've started working on that Hetalia/Wizard101 crossover fic. It's starting to look like I'll have it in chapter form, but they'll be much smaller than the ones I make for W(M)A.

And I also have a new poll. Maybe you could take 5 seconds of your time to take it? :3

Again, reviews, questions, and/or critiques do wonders for my writing muse (which has started to escalate thanks to these creative writing classes I'm in the middle of right now). Until next time, _auf wiedersehen!_


	5. Chapter 5 and a notice

**Author's Notes:** For anyone that actually followed this story, I have some bad news for you. Due to my lack of inspiration to put pencil to paper to get this chapter written up more, and the fact that it's getting closer to being a year since I even updated this last time, I've come to the conclusion that I no longer feel any inclination to keep up what I know is a lost cause.

Long story short, I'm discontinuing _Wizardly (Mis)Adventures_. Sorry, but I've been realizing over the past few months that if I'm really not enjoying a fic—even if it's already been completely outlined like this one has—it's never gonna get finished in the first place. My other stories, as far as I can tell, won't be scrapped, but this one will due to the fact that it's just giving me a huge headache whenever I even think about it.

What I have decided to do, though, is to at least give you what I _have_ written for chapter 5 (completely unedited, mind you), and after that, show you my notes so that you could have an idea of where I was planning to take the story to. It was supposed to get to where Malistaire started going berserk and left the school—with my own little sadistic twist added to it. :3

**Warnings:** Nothing much for the actual chapter 5 portion, but the notes will, towards the end, get gory and have some character death. Also, due to the fact that I'm a pretty big slash fan (male/male, for anyone that doesn't know), there's gonna be some hints of that in the notes too.

* * *

**6 minutes earlier...**

Poof!

_Green sparks continued to linger. Dark blue eyes were unseeing, not taking note of the new environment around him. The hand unconsciously shook by his side, but not because the back of his green hair and robes were still damp from cold water._

Blood-curtling yowls. Bones crunching. Sightless yellow eyes. Fat bodies and their limbs laying in unnatural positions. Red liquid oozing out, flowing onto the snow-covered pavement—

_Birds chirped in the distance._

_Kane blinked, forcing his flashbacks to melt away._

_Looking around for the first time, his vision shifted towards the scene before him: blue skies with a sun beginning to fall; lush, green grass next to the edges of a glimmering pond; Prospector Zeke entertaining a few kids that looked like Novices, possibly with one of his stories about his many trips in the Spiral; and one tall, older student, who seemed to be taking a nap next to one of the trees near the pond._

_After it began to quickly sink in that he was back in the Commons, Kane leaned an arm against the rough surface of a nearby stone wall. while letting out a sigh that he had apparently held back._

I'm back, I'm safe. I'm not _there_ anymore,_ he thought, trying to reassure himself._ I'm gonna calm down. Them I'll head back to my dorm—Arthur and Alfred are probably getting worried, anyway.

_Kane forced out a chuckle, hoping that it would help alleviate some of his lingering tension. To help get rid of the headache he also felt, he roughly ran his hand through his green hair—_

_He froze._

Light touch of fingertips on his forehead. Vivid, emerald green eyes staring intently into his blue ones.

_Kane stayed stone-still, his hand staying in his hair. His expression remained bland, even when he felt his cheeks turn pink._

...I think I might have to ask Ludwig for some of that gel of his; I need to put my hair back.

_As he made slow attempts to get off of the wall to walk towards the tunnel entrance he had left earlier, worry began crawling into his heart, filling him with dread with each step he took._

Don't get yourself killed out there. Please...

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**14:18**

To put it in simple terms, Victoria was a professionally-trained killer. Since the time she and her twin, Stephen, were four, their mother had begun teaching her children the secrets of being a Ninja, although these lessons only covered stealth, simple martial arts, and basic survival skills. It wasn't until the two and a young Nicolas were taken in by the mysterious Shiba Clan that they soon learned the art of assassination, of being cold and detached in front of their enemies—and victims. But while living the life of a Ninja, Victoria gradually obtained the common habit of the killers in the shadows: being wary of those around her, even her brothers; constantly looking and listening for anyone attempting a sneak attack against her; and even gaining an unconscious reflex for grabbing or punching—or in some cases, even stabbing—anybody that had the misfortune of suddenly appearing around her, especially from behind. Thus was the way of the Ninja life: if you weren't paranoid—if you were never ready—you would most likely end up dead the next moment.

"Victoria!"

But apparently, after almost four or five years of a "normal" life, former Ninjas could become very rusty with these practices. It was the only way Victoria could properly explain why she would let herself suddenly be jumped by a purple-haired girl, who proceeded to lock her in a tight embrace that threatened to make Victoria hiss at the sharp pain at her ribs that it caused.

"Alexandria, please," Victoria growled through clenched teeth.

"Oh, sorry," Alexandria quickly responded, immediately taking a big step back as she released her, her yellow eyes downcast.

"Geez, Alex. It's not like she was going to die," remarked Valerian Hex, the Life wizard in the group. He had blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail and brown eyes that were now staring at Alexandria as if she was crazy. The vest, pants, and boots he wore were purple while his puffy sleeve and hat were white. In his hands he carried a brown wand with a red gem attached to the tip of it.

"What'd you expect coming from her? She gets obsessive around our little 'master' here," Dustin Harris chuckled out with crossed arms over his yellow jacket. Victoria noted that his often-tan skin seemed paler than usual and that his hazel eyes were darting around the area, as though looking for something. Other than the one or two time he tucked strands of hong brown hair out of his face due to the wind, he even appeared to not even remove his hands from their crossed position.

"Still not used to the weather yet," asked Victoria.

At that, Dustin turned his head to stare at her with bulging eyes as an especially big puff of steam blew out of his nose.

"How can you Ice people love this kind of weather? I'd rather be melting in the pits of that volcano in Dragonspyre than be here," he said quickly. Victoria noticed the the Pyromancer in front of her was being to shiver.

"You're in Colossus Boulevard and it's the middle of November," was the only response she gave him before turning away from the group. Dustin—along with Alexandria and Valerian, in fact—had volunteered to go on the quest with her, so she was in the mindset that it would be pointless to also mention that he should have known what he was getting into when he accepted the mission.

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_end of chapter 5 rough draft_

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**NOTES FOR THE REST OF W(M)A**

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(notes on rest of chpt. 5): Vic lectures group for being late, then they go in to battle the Gobbler prince for the 2nd time. They do alright in the 4v4 battle, but 1 of them gets knocked out and has to leave. Still a little weak, Vic decides to play a Blizzard treasure card as a last resort (since it'd drain her a bit to use it) when Kane suddenly appears in the nick of time. W/ his help they defeat the prince. Kane tells Vic that he came just to say good-bye. There's an awkward silence until he says that it's only for a few days for family reasons, then quickly leaves.

Vic and the others talk to the Gobbler King. Vic tells him that she and the others defeated his 2 barons, then shows him 2 giant rings that belong to them. Terrified, the King agrees to their terms. (Same deal as in the game.)

When they walk out, 1 of them goes to inform Ambrose on the news. Vic sees Alex smirking and asks her why. Alex says that Kane has a crush on Vic. Vic only walks away, but Alex sees the weather intensify and sees Vic mercilessly kill a red Gobbler. Alex thinks she's embarrassed.

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Chpt 6: 5-9-06. Victoria and Kane are in the Shopping District. She's teaching him German. 2 boys, Jordan and Felix, appear and start taunting Kane for getting help from a "little girl." Kane counters, but Jordan pushes him. Vic comes and tries to intervene, but the bullies say little girls don't belong in fights. Kane looks away before being punched, but hears something different. He finds out that Vic punches and kicks them back. Jordan tries to get up, but gets sat on by Nora Wintersword. Then Jacqueline appears, scaring the boys away for good. Kane watches Vic talk to the 2 and is surprised by how happy she is talking to them, especially Jackie. Then Vic goes back to Kane. She grabs his arm and pulls him away from the area.

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Chpt 7: 6-6-06. Victoria is w/ Tyler and Kane in the Commons. They relax after class until Anya Stone asks Vic to do a violin duet w/ her, which she agrees to. While they play, Ty and Kane get into a "friendly" chat while secretly admiring Vic. Each secretly gets jealous of the other, wondering who she likes more.

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Chpt 8: 6-6-06. Nicolas is in his Life class w/ his friends, Peter Stone and Wilson Hawk. Prof. Silvia Drake, in the middle of small coughs, instructs the class to practice healing spells. Nic watches as Wil tries to instruct Pete how to summon a fairy. Feeling nervous, Pete accidentally summons a Tree Spirit that rampages around the class until Sylvia gets rid of it.

Later, Nic tells Vic and Kane about the incident. Vic find it amusing while Kane is more worried about Sylvia's health.

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Chpt 9: 1-8-07. A new school year officially starts the next day, so people start coming back to Wizard City. Vic looks for Ty and Jackie since she can't reach them. Along the way, she's reminded of her past when glancing at different people. She finds Jackie, reminding her of how she and her brother Jonathan were the few people nice to her. Then they find Ty. It makes her remember the day they became friends. After talking a little, they decide to go hang out at the Library w/ Kestrel and Anya Stone.

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Chpt 10: Anya and Kestrel are talking about APH, an obscure manga they discovered while in America. They stop when Vic, Jackie, and Ty appear. Nora ports in a few seconds later. They talk to each other about their break until Jonathan (already graduated from Ravenwood) shows up. He says that Sylvia is getting sicker and that he's worried, even though his slightly cheerful face says otherwise. Everyone but Vic and Jon go to see her. He tells her he's more concerned about Mailistaire and that he saw him crying. She remarks that that's the only reason he cared about what was happening, but ends up laughing after trying not to react to his oddly happy demeanor.

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Chpt 11: 2-14-07, Wed. Valentine's Day celebration in Ravenwood. In Commons, Nic and Peter meet accidentally. Due to the day, Pete is happy while Nic feels awkward. Then Anya comes by, telling them to follow.

Meanwhile, Vic, Ty, and Kane are together. The 2 boys are secretly glaring at each other, but stop when Stephen comes and glares at them. Anya, Pete, Nic, Nora, Jackie, and Kestrel appear. Curious, the others follow. They all sneak over to a tower to find Luke Lifegem, a friend of theirs, and his friend, Courtney, talking. They see him kiss her on the cheek. (Everyone in the group knew they had feelings for one another for a few years, so they're glad they finally caught on.) The group is discovered by the 2 when Alex yells for Vic, causing the rest to topple on each other out of shock. Everyone is laughing while Luke and Court are blushing. Unnoticed by everyone, Kane gets an urgent Whisper that makes him instantly leave the group.

Back w/ the group, Peter had ended up on top of Nic and started chatting to him while Nic blushed. Some try to ignore them while Anya seems to be taking "observation" notes. Vic sees the boys' behavior as "cute."

When she notices Kane is gone, she turns to look for him, but is shocked to see Jon w/ a dark expression. Everyone turns to Jon. He tells all of them that Sylvia just died.

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Chpt 12: 3 months earlier. A funeral for Sylvia occurs. Everyone but Malistaire attends.

5-18-07, Fri. Life in Wizard City seem to go back to normal for almost everyone. The new Life teacher that came a month earlier was starting to grow on her students. Some still missed Sylvia, but they were starting to move on. Except for Malistaire.

Over the months, he became reclusive to others. He'd only talk to Jon. During classes, he'd have random breakdowns that, over time, became violent. Victoria had to deal w/ it twice, 1 of them nearly breaking her arm.

On Fri. night, Vic is w/ Nora, Kestrel, and Anya in the Commons, reading. Nora comments that her ghosts have been worried lately. Anya looks at her weirdly while Vic asks why. She says that it most likely has to Malistaire. (Nora is seen as an idol to the school's Necromancers, due to how ghosts seems to be oddly attracted to her presence. She doesn't advertise this fact to many, though.) Before she can elaborate, Malorn Ashthorn appears, looking tired and disappointed. He says that Malistaire kicked him out of the classroom during another breakdown. Then se seems to go back to normal and orders them to go to their dorms. They all comply.

Early Sat. morning. Nora, despite warnings from her ghosts friends that it's a bad idea, decides to go for a walk in the Ravenwood campus. She sees a light on in the Death school building. Curious, she goes in to find Malistaire crying on his deak. She walks up to him w/out a word. Malistaire doesn't look up, but starts to talk, thinking she's Jon. Nora starts getting nervous when she hears plans to leave and rule the universe. She eventually sneaks out, but when she's outside, she runs into Jon.

Meanwhile, Victoria is woken up by a blood-curtling Whisper from Nora and immediately knows that something bad happened. She can't port to her for some reason, and almost a few minutes later, she's w/ Nic and Tyler, trying to find Nora, while other look elsewhere. When they get to where the Death school is, they only find a huge, endless hole. Vic turns to Nic, but he's gone pale. She then sees the bloodied body of Nora next to the giant tree. Ty and Nic are shocked, but are brought back when Vic forces them away from the scene, saying that they need to find who did this. As they walk past Bartleby, they notice that one of his eyes is missing. Vic then gets a Whisper from Jackie, saying that the graveyard was raided and that Sylvia's grave is empty. Vic, after a few seconds, asks Jackie where Malistaire is.

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Chpt 13: The 3 hear a few explosions coming from the Commons and dorms area. They port to the Commons to see a cloaked figure running towards Unicorn Way. Vic runs off to catch them, but Ty and Nic get caught in a battle w/ Undead. While battling, Ty sees that the Library and some of the private dorms were in ruins.

Vic pulls out her Marleybonian wand and at Unicorn Way and see the figure had burned the trees and is about to target the houses. She stuns the figure from a far distance. As she walks towards it, the fires remind her of a burning Mooshuese manor. She kicks the figure to show its face and is shocked to see Jon. At that moment, Jackie and Stephen port and are also shocked at seeing Jon, especially Jackie. Vic looks at his cloak and sees blood spatter. Images of a bloodied, dead man in a burning house flash to her as she declares that he killed Nora. At saying that, Ty, Nic, and Luke port. Most are shocked, Jackie is in disbelief, and Ty starts getting mad. Then Malistaire shows up as Jon recovers from being stunned. Enraged, Ty furiously asks why they're doing this. Citizens start running to the Commons as Malistaire says that unlike the school, outside forces can solve his problems, and that since Ambrose would never approve of his plan, damaging the city and leaving a few Undead minions to continue terrorizing the citizens would give him time to do it. Jackie tries to talk Jon out of going, but he sadly declines. Ty tries to attack him. Jon tries to shoot him w/ his Pirate, but Jackie takes the brunt of the hit and collapses. Vic then sees a dead woman in her vision. The Pirate then strikes Ty and Luke, giving them more moderate injuries, while Vic shields everyone else as she and Steve kill it. Vic looks for Malistaire and Jon when Nic runs to Jackie to heal her, but they're gone.

Anya ports to the area and is horrified at Jackie's pale and bloodied body w/ Nic trying to save her. She sees Vic touch his should and whisper to him. He's shocked but goes to Ty and Luke to heal them. Anya sees Vic look at Jackie's body, then Anya goes to Steve, who's putting out fires. Asking what happened, Steve tells her what occurred. She's even more horrified, then Ambrose and other profs. arrive.

Ty sees Anya shaken up as she runs up and hugs Pete when he comes to her. He sees Seve tell Ambrose what went on and hears the Headmaster tell Steve they'll catch him. Ty feels grief and anger when looking at his dead sis, then realizes that Victoria isn't there anymore.

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Epilogue: Kestrel's body is found in the rubbles of her dorm, along with her roommates'. Anya and Pete grieve the lost of their sister nearby.

Wilson Hawk is found dead near the Library—although it was tough at first to identify him, due to his face being burned and smashed—along w/ the crushed remains of citizens. Nic is seen unresponsive, wondering how he'll tell Peter the bad news.

[insert name of cameo characters that I promised to put in for a good friend] and Alex are dead in the rubble while Courtney is injured. Luke desperately hugs her while she's being healed.

Tyler can't Whisper or port to Victoria. He walks by Kane and looks at him, both at an agreement that they're concerned about her, but Kane goes to heal citizens. Ty think he knows where to find her, though.

Sure enough, he finds her sitting at Hildreth's Perch. (Ty learned a while ago that this was one of the places she went to in order to clear any thoughts.) Vic says that death never gets easier, but that it should be accepted and revenge for it is pointless. Then she adds that people like Malistaire and Jonathan will most likely mess w/ the natural order, and that should be the only reason to eliminate them. Ty still says silent as he sits w/ her, but due to his emotional state, begins to cry on her shoulder. She hugs him as silent tears fall from her and they listen to the wind and the waterfall below them.

(Recently, to add to the "distractions" for the WC folks, I planned to have Malistaire and Jonathan plant Fire explosives in most of the districts in the city, causing even more damage and casualties. Like I said, _sadistic!_)

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What happens to the characters afterwards?

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Full-out war beings for the next decade. Lots of people die, especially in the last few years.

Nicolas Darktalon and Peter Stone become a couple a few years after the end of W(M)A. Nicolas becomes the next Life professor, after Moolinda Wu retires.

Anya Stone and Stephen Darktalon get together, eventually marrying. Anya makes a few best-selling books, a few of them recounting her numerous struggles during the war.

Tyler, after the end of the war, becomes the next Ice professor

The future Savior of the Spiral turns out to be Calamity Mason, a girl from Earth, who ends up only going to the school after her only ties to her world are gone—her mother tells her that she was actually adopted and her best friend, Talin, gets killed by Malistaire as a way to scare her from going to get a wizarding education in the first place. During her time there, she discovers that she's actually Calamity Darktalon and becomes especially close to Victoria. (For anyone that had RPed with me that one time, you'll probably be familiar with the fact that the one thing that haunted Victoria the most was that she didn't know what happened to her sister after her family's house burned down and their parents were killed. You can imagine that she becomes really protective of Calamity after she finds out who she really is.)

Victoria becomes a prominent figure in the war against Malistaire. She ends up being Tyler's girlfriend for the last few years of her life. During the 9th year of the war, she has a final confrontation w/ Jonathan in Dragonspyre, after Calamity gains the key to enter that world. After furious fighting, they're both killed when the building they're in suddenly collapses.

Kane ends up completely grief-stricken after Victoria's death, having finally admitted a few years before that that he was in love with her. During one large battle in Dragonspyre where his side was losing, and he was still suffering from the loss and desperate to save his allies, he ends up casting an amplified Sacrifice spell a Necromancer friend had created and uses it to heal the rest of his friends, but ends up killing himself in the process.

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FIN

* * *

**Author's Notes:** So, that's it! I'm done with this for good. Phew, do I feel a little relieved. :D

P.S. Complain about how I have some weird "obligation" to finish my stories for the "fans," and I will just ignore you.


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